Totnes was fine when I arrived on Wed, however, it didn’t last! It was a more positive say overall.

The chart table locker is, at last, being rebuilt! I fixed in the central upright using dowel pins and glue to locate/secure the bottom to the remains of the original upright. The left face upright is also cut to shape and is screwed to battens. It will stay like that so there will be access to the water filler behind.

Chart table coming back to shape

The new engine cooling water intake

Louis has finished installing the new engine intake. But not before he had to grind back and glass because the previous owners had put 3 holes through the hull. I’ve no idea why! My next task is to re-connect the cooling hose via a strainer to a new engine fitting ‘cos the old one clearly leaked!

Looks good – thanks Louis.

On my last visit, I removed the old calorifier thinking that I might be able to reuse it. The fresh water tubing is dirty and sticky – that’s on the inside! So we are replacing it all. But, the feed from the pressure pump and unpressurised for the hand pump by the sink both go through a foam-filled rib under the saloon floor. Luckily, they’re inside a plastic tube with at least two 90 deg elbows. I tried pulling one then both out, then attached them both to the spinnaker winches. Both times they moved a few inches; I knew that I wasn’t stretching them ‘cos the tubes moved the same amount at the other end. A very liberal dose of fairly concentrated detergent left to soak during lunch freed them after about an hour. GREAT! All I need to do now is persuade the new hose to go through the tube, helped by the messengers I left.

After the seacocks had been soaking in WD-40. I applied lots of heat, trying to break the seal of the seized cones. The inlet came out but looked almost pure copper – no zinc! The outlet broke and was also almost completely de-zinced so I failed, and have to buy two new Blakes seacocks! My thought is that Sadler were saving money by using stainless steel bolts to secure the seacocks instead of bronze.

Got lots of jobs at home, including the varnishing of the washboards – doesn’t get done very often as it’s so humid at the moment; painting the windlass with 2-part paint; re-wiring the switch panels; cutting to fit more locker panels.

The Skipper was on the boat/ project on Sun & Mon; the Boss came to experience the delights of Totnes again on the Mon.

I discovered that the windlass bolt and cable holes in the deck were still leaking. The water was emptied and the holes covered again with good quality ducktape this time! The engine bay is now tidier; Louis found three, yes three holes had been cut in the hull for the engine cooling intake, filled with car-filler which was the source of the leaks. He’s now ground it back, glassed and will drill out a new hole for a slightly larger cooling intake. Nice job Louis, thanks.

All the battery cabling and switching is complete; we have a Voltage Sensitive Relay to split the charging; a battery cross-couple switch allows the engine to start from the domestic battery if necessary (I hope not) and separate battery isolator switches close to hand.  The windlass cables now secure in the engine bay and aft locker. I have found about half of the switches on the panel do not work so I’ve ordered new ones to fit the same cut-out. That is going to be a job and a half – at home probably.

The cooling strainer is installed, but not connected. I’m waiting to buy suitable tubing. Same for the exhaust hose with a better gooseneck for the outlet.

The fresh water system will need quite a bit of work; I have serious doubts about the calorifier but the tubing is definitely up for replacement, possibly the taps.

The loo seacocks were seized solid, so I left them for next time soaking in WD-40. The pump had some sealant around the outlet, well, sometime in the past, it started leaking and sealant won’t cure it! I tried to take off the fresh water inlet hose and broke the fitting = new pump! Closer examination showed numerous stress cracks from age. It will be much better with a new pump.

The original fuel tank had been removed and a 200l tank installed that takes up too much space in the  cockpit locker. A replacement tank could fit but do I have a made-to-measure for loadsa money or a standard tank or leave for a while? The latter, I think, but replace at a later date.

The $%@€ weather is preventing work going on outside. The Boss has cleaned up the foredeck where I had had to break the rust of the anchor chain to get it out of the locker. It and the anchor are neatly stowed on the cradle whilst I wait for good weather to build up the inside of the chain locker to the drain holes. The chain rusted because it was sitting in about 30mm of water below the drain holes – What poor attention to detail by the builders!

The shopping list is quite long and I hope I can get it all before my next visit . . .   Watch the weather!